Baby Shopping Guide For First Time Moms – Part 1

If you’re reading this and you’re expecting your first baby, congratulations! What an incredibly exciting time in your life.

Pregnancy is full of excitement, and for me one of the best parts about being pregnant is all the baby shopping that comes with it.

As much as I enjoy shopping, I also like to get the most value for my money. So before I buy ANYTHING I do a lot of research and read a ton of reviews. 

When planning for my first baby I spent hours a day for weeks, if not months, reading product reviews, baby must have lists, watching YouTube videos etc. to find out exactly what I needed.

From all this research I put together a list of all the baby items I thought were absolute “must haves”. Then I went through the list again and again, fine tuning it and narrowing it down until I had the perfect list. 

All my hard work paid off because in all honesty everything on my list was used on a daily basis during the newborn stage, not just for my first baby but for my second one too. 

I decided to put together this baby shopping guide to help make life easier for other first time moms. I did all the hard work so you don’t have to!

This baby shopping guide for first time moms is in 3 parts: 

• Part 1: Five Baby Shopping Tips For First Time Moms
• Part 2: Newborn Essentials Checklist
• Part 3: Nice To Have Baby Items To Put On Your Wishlist

I will be posting a new part of the shopping guide every Monday, starting today! In this post I will be sharing Part 1. Be sure to come back next week Monday to read part 2 (Spoiler alert – there is a free printable in that post)! Follow me on Instagram @ami.leroux to get the reminder.

Now, without further ado, let’s begin! 

5 Baby Shopping Tips For First Time Moms:  

Tip 1: Budget  

The first tip is to take a good look at your finances and decide exactly how much you are willing/able to spend. 

Do this in the beginning. 

There is no point in getting your hopes set on a designer stroller if it turns out later that it will cost your whole budget. Or if you are worried you won’t have enough in your budget so you end up compromising on quality.

Knowing how much you actually have to spend will make tough decisions down the line a whole lot easier. 

Tip 2: Decide exactly what you need before you buy (complete your list) 

Have your complete shopping list ready before you start buying anything. This is extremely important if you plan on sticking to your budget. 

Another reason this is so important is that many baby products tend to go together. For example you might find a great car seat on sale only to find out later that it’s not compatible with your dream stroller. 

Tip 3: Think of the future 

This is a point I think far too many people overlook. Baby gear is expensive. You don’t want to have to buy the same thing twice. 

If this is your first baby and you know you want to have another one soon after, keep that in mind when making decisions. 

For example, choose a stroller that can convert to a double stroller or can have a sibling board attached. 

Almost everything you buy for your newborn will be used again for your second child. 

This means two things: 

Firstly, don’t compromise on quality. If you expect it to last for two or more kids you want a good quality product. 

And secondly, consider using a gender neutral color pallet when it comes to big ticket items. There are many ways to add color with decor, sheets, clothing, stuffed animals etc. Instead of buying a pink crib, buy one in white and add a pink sheet, for example. This will ensure that you get to reuse what you buy. 

It is also easier to resell gender neutral items when you are finished with them.

Even if you only have one baby in mind, you still need to consider the future. For example, if you are investing in an isofix base for your car seat (highly recommended), make sure it is compatible with the next car seat you will be upgrading to when your baby outgrows the infant one. 

Tip 4: What to buy new versus second hand 

Some high quality items can be used for many years and by many children, so keep a look out for good deals online because it can help save you a lot of money. 

Here is my advice on buying or accepting second hand/used baby items: 

• First and foremost; never, and I mean NEVER, buy a second hand car seat. It’s a safety risk you don’t want to take. 

• A second hand mattress is also a big no no. Even if the owner claims they used a mattress protector the entire time. If you buy a second hand crib you must invest in a new mattress. 

• Furniture for the nursery such as a chest of draws, feeding chair, changing table etc. are good options for picking up second hand, just use your good judgement. 

• When it comes to a crib, you can definitely pick up a good one second hand but you need to make 100% sure that it meets the current safety guidelines which are changing all the time. Most cribs will have serial numbers on them so you can check if there were any recalls. 

• If you find a second hand stroller in good condition, then it’s also not a bad option. Just make sure you check it out in person before you buy. 

• If you do go the route of buying anything second hand (especially textile items), make sure you buy from a non-smoking, no pets household. 

Tip 5: Keep track of spending

My final tip is to keep track of all your spending. Tick off on your shopping list once you buy something and make a note of how much it cost. 

It helps to make a spreadsheet so that the totals add up automatically and you can see immediately how much you have spent and how much you have left. 

The prices of items tend to change regularly, especially if you are shopping on Amazon. So it’s important to keep track because you might find that you are spending more, or less, than what you planned. 

That concludes part 1 of my baby shopping guide for first time moms. I hope you found it useful. If you did, please feel free to share this post with your pregnant friends! 

Do you have any tips to add to this list? I’d love to hear in the comments! 

The next installment of this series Part 2: Newborn Essentials Checklist is now also up on my blog.  

Sincerely,